Modern flight deck displays for vehicles (such as aircraft or spacecraft) display a considerable amount of information, such as vehicle position, speed, altitude, navigation, target, and terrain information. A 3-D AMM displays a synthetic view of the airport environment that enhances flight crew position and situational awareness during both taxi operations and final approach. It is known that a pilot may view the 3D AMM as a virtual image from inside the flight deck (referred to as an egocentric view or conventional synthetic display (SVD)) or as a view from behind and above the aircraft (referred to as an exocentric view). The exocentric view is preferred during taxi operations, and the map provides representations of various features including, for example, runways, current and adjacent taxiways, upcoming runway and taxiway centerlines, runway markings, runway signage and identification signs, hold short lines, aircraft parking spaces, airport structures, runway incursion hotspots, and the like.
Currently, features on the map fade into view at a specified (i.e. fixed) distance from the front of the aircraft as the aircraft approaches. However, there is no compensation for aircraft groundspeed. Thus, groundspeed has no impact on when critical features such as runway and taxiway signs, runway incursion hotspots, and the like are displayed.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to increase a pilot's situational awareness by providing an onboard avionics system and method that, in turn, provides a flight crew with more timely graphic representations of the various features of an airport environment. It would further be desirable to provide an improved AMM that takes into account aircraft groundspeed to determine the onset or fade-in of displaying features that is currently based on the distance from the aircraft. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.